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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 9281120" data-attributes="member: 6696971">One of our three players was on vacation Thursday, so we decided that we'd spend about 1.5 hours (a) generating the 2 x antagonists in the Threat that the PCs will be facing in the upcoming session and (b) playing out some seminal backstory moment such that it might infuse next session's play with something extra.So we did.It was 95 % Stonetop (which is DW & Perilous Wilds-iterated and expanded) and 5 % Dungeon World.  The only real difference was we subbed in 1 Bond for each PC (which effectively served as the "kickers" that [USER=82106]@AbdulAlhazred[/USER] mentioned above) rather than the complete PC Gen process of "attachments to setting/Stonetop/PCs."Maeve (Bloodsoaked Past Heavy):Instinct:  To solve problems by force.Bond:  To find a Cave Bear den, slay the mighty beast, and take its pelt (this was connective tissue for the introductory of this NPC into our game)The Eye (reskinned Vessel of Danu):  Instinct:  To demand sacrifice to The Entity.Bond:  To prove to The Entity that my selection of Maeve will bring about its dark designs.Effectively, this brief session churned out 3 x scenes.  There were only a few complex rules interactions where Follow the Rules (which necessitates understanding how they work) would have been an ask above normal difficulty for participants who don't know how these games work generally and Stonetop specifically.SCENE 1:  The Elk is MissingOk, at this point I'm just framing a scene in Manmarch where their barbarian clan has woken up to an eerie, fog-covered morning and their huge elk that was to feed the clan for the next day was mysteriously missing.  No idea where this is going at this point.  This is just primordial ooze of a situation and I want the players to lay down breadcrumbs and I'll follow where they're going.After The Eye Called the Spirits via Spirit Tongue (eschewing the fire of the chieftan's grand hearth for that of the dense fog) and Maeve bartered with them (via Bloodsoaked Past + Intimidating + Persuade and The Eye's communication intercession) we land on that it appears that Danu has restored the elk into revenant status and it left of its own volition.  It left no tracks because of Trackless Steps or because of its newly, Danu-magic infused embodiment.  Whatever.  No physical tracks.  So now we come up with a custom move for The Fog Spirit to track for The Eye and apply the tags we gave to it for its bonus; more or less we reskinned the Ranger move.SCENE 2:  Tracking the Elk Across the Manmarch to the Den Where it Offers Itself.I'm not breaking this down in any detail.  Several moves and fiction later we get find ourselves at the top of the gorge, overlooking the perilous, supernatural-endowed Dread River which serves as the easternmost boundary for Manmarch.  They locate a switchback that leads to a landing which will be climbed down by Maeve and rappeled by The Eye.  The sounds of violent, disgusting gorging can be heard within the cave under the landing.  The Dread River's tidal forces appear to be activating as Maeve enters the cave.  SCENE 3:  Slay the Cave Bear, Face the Dread River, Please The Entity, Meet The Lady of Crows Who Hates Danu, Become ChieftanThere were 2 x Follow the Rules moments in this scene that might have tripped up new GM and they both worked in concert:1) Maeve became stuck by the supernatural, tarry goop of The Dread River (grabby) after The Eye's Amulets and Talismans protections against the river only partially worked.  The Cave Bear was then rushing her (1d10 +4, large, close, forceful, messy, grabby, 1 piercing; Protect its lair, Rend/ maul/crush, Move with surprising speed and grace); soft move.  Without intervention from The Eye, this is just flat going off...all of it.  The Eye intervenes with her Crow.  We land on a custom move w/ its viscious tag to simply distract the bear long enough to give Maeve time to hulk out and break free.  Now this isn't shutting down that Cave Bear soft move above.  That is important.  Its just buying Maeve time to get out of her predicament so she can actively make a move.  10+ so choose 2.  The Eye's player goes with "remove Messy tag for this coming Cave Bear attack and buy Maeve enough time to break free from The Dread River's grasp."2) Ok, so the Cave Bear is bearing down on, the now freed, Maeve with the above soft move.  Its close vs close tag (Cave Bear attack vs Maeve's Warhammer).  This is important rules-wise.  Again, we've got a soft move with the Cave Bear's rush about to go off.  This is important rules-wise.  Maeve's player has to decide (a) do I want to deal with this soft move (via Defend or Defy Danger or some playbook move) or (b) suck it up (close vs close) and Clash.  They go with (b).  As such, that means that the soft move is "going off" no matter what.  So the best possible result for this Clash becomes a 7-9; there will be a counterattack (the soft move ignored getting paid off into a hard move).  Now, imagine either party had reach rather than close and forceful?  Different story of rules-collisions and resolution.  But it didn't so I'm not going to bother with that.[HR][/HR]For my (GM) part, the most consequential principles' impact on play were:Follow the rules (a PBtA novice of custom moves and understanding complex rules interactions could have flubbed multiple moments)Ask questions and build on the answers (the Bonds were the seminal part here, but a few others)Be a fan of the player characters (putting them in specific kinds of danger with specific kinds of opportunities)Give your characters life (the clan, the Fog Spirit, the elk, Danu, Manmarch, The Dread River, The Lady of Crows, the Cave Bear)For the players' part, the most consequential principles' impact on play were:Show us what’s important to you + Have goals and pursue them (the Bonds + Instincts and how they pursued/fulfilled them, their relationships and how they indulged/matured/rebuffed)Make connections to other characters (each other + everyone mentioned in "characters life" above) Be bold, take risks + Embrace difficulty, setback, and failure (everything about that session was about being bold and embracing setbacks and turning the tide; profound peril and enough adverse action resolution results to seriously send things careening)Help author the steading and the world Build on what others have said Give others a chance to shine (The Eye's player making specific moves in order to spotlight and amplify Maeve and vice versa)</blockquote>

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